constatvsconstaterWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: constat is a noun, constater is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“constat” is a noun and “constater” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,439
“constat” frequency rank
#3,525
“constater” frequency rank
8964
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature constat constater
Definition Acte par lequel un officier ministériel, ou un agent de la force publique relate les constatations qu'il a faites, établit la réalité d'un fait. Établir pour réel.

Where the eye mixes constat and constater

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
constat
9 ch
constater

Why the eye confuses constat with constater

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: constat is \kɔ̃s.ta\ while constater is \kɔ̃s.ta.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “constat” sits inside “constater”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8964, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

constat is recorded at frequency rank #5,439, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃s.ta\. constater is at rank #3,525, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃s.ta.te\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 8964, this pair ranks #418,251 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of constat vs constater

Shared letters: acnost. Private to "constat": -. Private to "constater": er.

"constat" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "constater" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • constatcconstat · cnostat · connstat · consatt · consstat · constatt · constta · consttat
  • constatercconstater · cnostater · connstater · consatter · consstater · constaetr · constaterr · constatre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "constat" for "constater" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "constat" is a noun and "constater" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "constat" vs "constater" - which ranks higher?
"constater" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,525 in our French list, against #5,439 for "constat". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "constat" and "constater" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "constat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "constater" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #418,251 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "constat" and "constater" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "constat vs constatez". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #418,251 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list